Olamaie is the Place for Upscale Southern in Austin

I recently dined at Olamaie again for my birthday, and wow, what a tasty dinner! I was excited to return to Olamaie, and this post shares more about the visit.

Olamaie

When Olamaie first opened in 2014, Austin’s restaurant scene looked quite different. It was an exciting time in Austin (circa the years 2010-2014) because of the number of creative, quality restaurants opening. So, Olamaie opened with fanfare, and the growing number of foodies in Austin welcomed this unique concept – farm-to-table Southern cuisine in an upscale environment.

Fast forward to nearly a decade. In many ways, Olamaie is still the same; it’s a solid restaurant where you can enjoy excellent Southern food in a classy setting.

But don’t miss the details in the fabric. The restaurant has a list of accolades, including being named best restaurant in Austin several times. Olamaie branched off to Little Ola’s Biscuits as a to-go endeavor a few years ago and it was so popular, it became its own restaurant. Chef-owner Michael Fojtasek has also won awards for his culinary contributions and continues to bring new concepts to the market like Maie Day. The restaurant’s team members have gone on to open new restaurants and bars of their own in Austin.

How many years does a restaurant have to be open to become a classic? Or maybe it’s less about quantity and more about the ways that Olamaie has continued to be a community favorite. I know I’ll keep recommending it!

What We Enjoyed

We started with cocktails, which range from $15-19. They also have mocktails, beer, and wine.

The dishes are fairly hearty. We went with two starters, an entree, two sides, and a dessert, which was the perfect amount of food for us. It depends on what ingredients you’re craving and which dishes you gravitate towards.

For our starters, we got the beef tartare and warm brassicas, which ended up being gai lan (Chinese broccoli). The beef tartare was an interesting presentation with beets and egg yolk. I loved the warm brassicas more because of the buttermilk whip on the side. We considered the guest favorite crudo dish but saved fish for the entree.

For the entree, the blackened dayboat fish quickly caught my eye. It comes with this incredible buttery blue crab sauce on Carolina gold rice that makes the dish. It reminded me of the rice and trout dish at Lutie’s.

Some of the other entrees on the menu include grilled pork chop, okra gumbo, and steak.

Of course, we had to order biscuits and also got the autumn salad with beef fat vinaigrette. Both were excellent, and I’d order them again.

Dessert is a must for birthday dinners! We got the delicious sweet potato pie semifreddo with a miso marshmallow on top. The team also gave us a lovely ice cream sandwich as a birthday surprise. They also had carrot cake on the menu for a more classic dessert.